Written by London swaminathan

Pictures are taken from various sources; thanks.

Kalidasa, the greatest of the Indian poets, Kamban,author of Tamil Ramayana, Tiruvalluvar, author of Tamil Veda Tirukkural, Manikkavasagar, author of Tamil Hymn Tirusvasagam, and Ilango, author of the best Tamil epic Silappadikaram – all these five poets agree on one thing—animals won’t harm anyone, not even its natural enemy and rain would pour down at proper time and there will be a bumper harvest, If the country is ruled by a honest man!

Kamban says in the Kishkinda kanda (canto) that Solar Dynasty (Surya Vamsa) had kings under whose rule deer and tiger drank water from the same place. He repeated this in two verses in two different cantos ( in Tamil:- Pulip pothum pul vaayum oru thuraiyil neerunna ulakaandon oruvan).

Rama says that “my forefathers did dig up the ocean (Sagara story), brought Ganges River to earth from the heaven (Bhageeratha, a Civil Engineer cum king, diverted Ganga river into the plains), made deer and tiger to drink water from the same water source, but I am unable to get my wife (Sita Devi) back”– Kishkinda Kandam

Kalidasa says (Raghuvamsa 6-46)  that in the Ashramas of saints, animals who have natural enmity wouldn’t show it and King Neepa was also like that. Though conflicting virtues were resided in him they had amicable relations (E.g.Neepa was harsh like the sun ,cool like the moon; wealth and education stayed with him).

(Ashram= Saint’s residence)

Tamil Epic poet Ilango says that the Pandyas ruled according to Dharma and so “the bears never dug up the anthills for food, tigers never attacked deer, crocodile never harmed men, not even snakes bit people; neither thunder struck on men nor ghosts possessed people; young woman and her lover can even walk on a public road at the dead of night without fear ( in Tamil, Vaalvari Venkai Maankanam Maralaa…….).

Tamil Saivaite poet Manikkavasagar praised Lord Shiva as 0ne who helped a deer to drink milk from a female tiger ( in Tamil:- Puli Mulai Pul Vaaykku arulinai Potri).

Purananuru, anthology of 400 Tamil verses, says that a tiger killed a female deer but left its little one without any harm. A wild cow seeing that motherless fawn, immediately gave him milk (verse 323)

Tiruvalluvar’s  didactic work – Tirukkural — is the Tamil Veda. He says:-

“Rain and harvests are rich in the land ruled by the righteous sceptre of an able leader- 545

If the leader rules in unjust ways, seasonal rains will fail as the clouds withhold their showers – 559

Cows yield less, Brahmins forget their Vedas, if the leader does not guard justice” – 560

If there is a good ruler the area will have three showers every month – says another Tamil verse.

These views are in the Mahabharata and various Hindu scriptures as well. This shows that the same culture existed from southernmost Kanyakumari to Northernmost Kashmir.

Long live Tamil! Long Live Kalidasa and Kamban!!

-Subham-